Merger Is Off, City and Sewer District Headed Back to Court
Mayor: District's actions "raise concerns about transparency...undermine the negotiation process and erode trust in the integrity of the merger discussions"
“Recent actions taken by the Sewer District Commissioners, including substantial salary increases for top managers, raise serious concerns about transparency, fairness, and fiscal responsibility. Such actions undermine the negotiation process and erode trust in the integrity of the merger discussions.”
- Mayor Brett Gailey
LAKE STEVENS — Last month, J425 reported that last second administrative salary raises adopted by the Lake Stevens Sewer District threatened to sideline a years-long merger occurring between the sewer district and the City of Lake Stevens.
On Monday, the city confirmed this notion, with Mayor Brett Gailey writing residents of Lake Stevens to inform them that, due to “unnecessary obstacles”, including “the sewer district's resistance to the assumption process”, the two entities were returning to court, picking up the battle via litigation filed by the sewer district in 2021. (You can find a pdf of that letter below.)
It didn’t require a crystal ball to ascertain that this was where things were headed after a February 28 meeting between the district and the city in which emotions and tensions ran high.
“The six of us have sat at this table since May of last year, we talked about good governance, we talked about transparency, we talked about having everything on the table,” Mayor Gailey said in a February meeting of the two entities.
“And then you blindside us with (the salary increase) knowing that's going to throw a wrench in the assumption,” the mayor concluded.
Gailey wasn’t as colorful in his Monday letter but the message was the same.
“Recent actions taken by the Sewer District Commissioners, including substantial salary increases for top managers, raise serious concerns about transparency, fairness, and fiscal responsibility. Such actions undermine the negotiation process and erode trust in the integrity of the merger discussions,” the mayor wrote, adding that in addition to the pay raise issue, practical issues were emerging as well, including what the mayor described as “a lack of sewer infrastructure in our industrial area hampers job growth and economic development.”
The city launched a new resource on its website for citizens seeking more info on the city/sewer district issue.
As of Tuesday, April 16, there is no mention of the issue on the sewer district website. The News section has two total updates since 2022 — neither on this topic — and the Newsletter section includes links to the latest district newsletter: a year end wrap up for 2022.
J425 has also created a dedicated page on our navigation bar housing all of our reporting on this issue as well a resource and document library containing links to all relevant communication between the agencies as well as the full Superior case file. You can find that above, here or on the navigation bar at our homepage.
City and Sewer District Head Back to Superior Court
The court case had basically been stalled under the assumption that the merger process was likely to reach an amicable conclusion this calendar year.
That all changed after
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